Box Score

HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team fought to the bitter end against No. 4 Brigham Young but a questionable call late in the fifth set ultimately cost the Warriors the match Friday in the first of two Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contests between the schools at the Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-23, 25-23, 23-25, 34-36, 15-12.
 
The 11^th-ranked Warriors (7-13, 4-11 MPSF) rallied from two sets down and pulled out a dramatic fourth set after erasing four match points. Late in the fifth set with UH leading 12-11, the Warriors' Scott Hartley was called for a questionable two-contact error and head coach Charlie Wade was subsequently issued a yellow card for his objection to the call, awarding BYU another point.
 
Those two points gave the Cougars a 13-12 lead. On the next play, Josue Rivera pounded a kill and the UH's Harrison Carroll hit wide on match point. BYU (16-4, 12-3) recorded 21.5 team blocks in the victory and held Hawai'i to .164 hitting.
 
The match was a homecoming of sorts for former UH head coach Mike Wilton, who is an assistant on the BYU staff. Wilton coached the Warriors for 17 seasons and compiled a 316-167 record.
 
UH, playing its ninth consecutive match against a team ranked No. 4 or higher, was led by Steven Hunt's match-high 24 kills on .288 hitting. Freshman JP Marks added a career-high 19 kills along with eight digs, and three service aces, the last of which ended the marathon fourth set.
 
BYU's Taylor Sander had a team-high 23 kills to lead four Cougars in double figures. Kaua'i High School graduate Futi Tavana tallied 14 kills, with no errors in 20 swings, and 14 blocks.
 
The Warriors tallied a season-high eight service aces, including three each by Marks and Hunt. The match lasted three hours and five minutes and was UH's fifth five-set match of the season of which the team is 2-3.
 
The Cougars took the first two sets by identical 25-23 scores but not without a fight by UH. The Warriors erased three set points in Set 1 before Hunt's service error closed out the set. At 24-21 in Set 2, Hawai'i staved off two set points before Sander pounded his 10^th kill to give BYU a two sets to none lead.
 
UH jumped out to a 5-2 lead in Set 3, forcing BYU head coach Chris McGown to call an early timeout. A 5-1 BYU run tied the score at 9 and Cougars took their first lead at 11-10.  With the score tied at 13, the Warriors turned the set around with a three-point swing, sparked by a pair of kills by Harrison Carroll.
 
Another three-point spurt gave UH a 19-14 lead and command of the set. But the Cougars rallied and pulled within 23-22 after a kill by Tavana. A Sander service error put an end to the BYU rally and Hunt closed out the set with another kill.
 
The Cougars jumped out to a 4-0 lead in Set 4 and never looked back. The Warriors got a close as one on three separate occasions but BYU's block carried them through. Three straight blocks pushed its lead to 19-14. But the never quit and erased three match points, including a service ace by Hunt to tie the score at 24. Marks' 15^th kill gave UH set point. From 27-all, the teams traded side-outs 16 times until Marks ended it with a kill followed by his third ace for a 36-34 victory.
 
In the race to 15 fifth set, the Cougars roared out to a 3-0 lead but the Warriors got them right back and eventually took a 7-5 lead. BYU retook the lead at 10-9 but UH answered led 11-10 after a Sander hitting error. The teams traded service errors before the controversial ball handling error by Hartley off of Tavana's attack.
 
The teams play again Saturday at 7:00 p.m.